Masters of Mobility

RKD STUDIES

8.4 Globushaus and Other Commissions

After the peace of Westphalia, Friedrich III was finally able to continue his project in Schleswig with Otto Jageteuffel as inspector of the duke’s works. From 1650 onwards the famous Globus House was built in the Newe Werck, according to a design by Adam Olearius.1 In the final years of his life, Cornelis van Mander made major contributions to this Globus House, such as a huge portal with freestanding columns and three arches for the main entrance situated underneath the tower and an equally huge portal for the nearby Pommeranzhaus.2 He also made several mantelpieces3 [7] one of which, in the library of Gottorf Castle, bears an inscription in Latin by Adam Olearius, drawing a parallel between the famous library of Alexandria and the one in Gottorf.4 The many richly ornamented door and window frames, the steps and the crown of the chimney of the Globus House, and the balustrades, executed in Bremen sandstone, were also Cornelis’s work.5

We know in addition that Cornelis created the four smaller fountain basins in the four sections of the parterre of the Globus Garten adorned with small sculptural decorations. The sandstone statues that, according to an inventory of 1708,6 represented the ‘Four Ages of Man’, which were erected in or next to the basins in around 1653-1654, are sometimes attributed to him as well [8].7 Cornelis also made two basins for fountains in the gardens of Friedrich III’s brother Hans in Eutin.8

7
Cornelis van Mander
Mantelpiece with two warriors, ca. 1645
Schloss Gottorf, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Schloss Gottorf


8
Cornelis van Mander
Philosopher, c. 1653
Schloss Gottorf, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Schloss Gottorf

9
Cornelis van Mander
Baptismal font, dated 1651
Schleswig, Dreifaltigkeitskirche Schleswig


In 1651 Cornelis van Mander and his wife donated a sandstone baptismal font for the Dreifaltigheitskirche, the new Evangelical church in Schleswig-Friedrichsberg [9]. This church may possibly have been designed by Olearius and was erected with building materials supplied by the van Nijendael-van Mander group. The baptismal font bears their names, the date 1651 and the inscriptions: ‘Lasset die Kindlein zu mir kommen und wehret ihnen nicht, den solcher is das Reich Gottes’ (after Matthew) and: Wer da glaubet und getaufet wird, der wird seelig warden (after Marc).9 The richly decorated entrance portal of the Dreifaltigheitskirche is also ascribed to Cornelis van Mander [10].10

In 1654 Cornelis created the portal in marble and alabaster to the crypt of Friedrich III’s chancellor Johann Kielmann von Kielmanseck (1612-1676) in the cathedral at Schleswig [11].11 In the same year the duke helped him to get his share of the inheritance after his mother Cornelia van Rooswijck, from Copenhagen to Schleswig, free of taxes.12

In 1656 Van Mander probably executed the portal to the Stift und Altenheim that Kielmann von Kielmanseck founded in Schleswig (Präsidentenkloster).13 The year before, Friedrich III had died while the building activities at the castle and in the Newe Werck were still in progress. He was succeeded by his son Christian Albrecht, who from 1660 onwards enlarged his father’s garden with four more terraces.

10
attributed to Cornelis van Mander
Portal Dreifaltigkeitskirche, 1651
Schleswig, Dreifaltigkeitskirche Schleswig


11
attributed to Cornelis van Mander
Portal of the burial chapel of chancellor Johann Adolph Kielmann von Kielmannseck (1612-1676), 1654
Schleswig, Dom (Schleswig)


Notes

1 Lühning 1997. On Cornelis van Mander: p. 18-19, 44, 51, 52, 53, 54.

2 Schmidt 1917, p. 87; Schlee 1991, p. 18.

3 Dehio 1971, p. 603 dates the one in the Blaue Saal, with warriors, c. 1645.

4 Schlee et al. 1965, p. 259.

5 Schlee 1991, p. 18; the sandstone was transferred from Bremen to Gottorf by two ships. Van Mander had to make several changes to the main portal before the duke was satisfied with the work. The balustrade gave problems as well, Lühning 1997, p. 19.

6 LAS Abt. 66 Nr. 2682: Inventar Schloss Gottorf, 1708, fol. 582 ff.

7 Paarmann 1996 attributes the Four Ages of Man to Cornelis van Mander. Messerschmidt 1996 and Asmussen-Stratmann 2009 to Zacharias Hübner (d. 1650). Friedrich III called him to Gottorf to make statues and fountains for the gardens. On Hübner: Jonkanski 1997.

8 www.thietje.de/fruebarock.htm. Meyer 1994, p. 41-48.

9 Riechert 2010, p. 107, 335-336.

10 Dehio 1971, p. 586.

11 Dehio 1971, p. 586. On Kielmann von Kielmanseck: Drees 2015.

12 Friis 1890-1901, p. 88; Schmidt 1917, p. 223.

13 Dehio 1971, p. 593.